Cox Communications President Pat Esser says he doesn’t feel like the odd man out in all the deals underway among Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Charter. The agreements “help us move along that continuum of the industry working together,” he said today on a panel at the Cable Show in LA. That’s important because cable needs to move to a common platform both in TV and broadband — including public WiFi hot spots. With 250,000 of them, “we have more nationwide hotspots than anyone.” That could help cable to compete with wireless companies. “For the majority of usage that you do on a daily basis you’d be surprised” at how much goes over WiFi, he says.

Fellow panelist Rob Lloyd, Cisco Systems’ President of Development & Sales, says that WiFi becomes necessary in high density cities. “The video consumption that’s happening there is going to require that,” he says. Esser vows that cable soon will make it possible to access public WiFi without having to keep entering a password. What happens if Net Neutrality rules allow some companies such as Netflix to pay for speedier transmissions? “Netflix by getting a faster lane is not hurting anybody.” Esser says.